SECTION TWO - PERSONAL INSTRUCTIONS TO DISCIPLES (Continued) - Part 2

You have oft made the remark
that you know so little, that you have been forced ahead too fast, and that you
have no background of acquired knowledge. But you have been many years in touch
with my work and—in spite of all you may think to the contrary—you have the
mental ability and the leisure (if you organised your daily life aright) to
read and study. But this is a hard thing for you to do, is it not? But, brother
of old, the way of the disciple is never an easy one. The tension from which
you suffer could have been very largely offset by a quieter life of reading,
gentle thought, organised activities, silence and the refusal to take on
non-essentials (those things which other people can do just as well as you can)
or the ability to see things not done.

I have written thus in
frankness, because I seek to release you from your present condition to fuller
service, to better health, and truer happiness. I seek to see you a quiet
centre of spiritual force. I would like to see you re-arrange your life in
such a manner that you can demonstrate that leisured calm through which
strength can flow from you to those you love and to those you contact. Can you
take enough leisure to grasp at least the purpose of these injunctions? Can you
endeavour to profit by them?

Another source of your
trouble is to be found in your sixth ray astral body (the ray of idealistic,
fanatical devotion) for it produces a real lack of balance, an undue attention
to details of process, and of devotion to those details from the emotional
satisfaction which comes from this attention; this brings about a failure to
understand the larger issues and an inability to move gently on the Way. This
your first ray mental nature can offset if you will give it a chance and live
more in your mind and less in your feelings and emotional reactions. Your third
ray physical body inclines you to great physical activity (such as rapid
movement and rapid speech); it keeps you working at something all the time and
often at something quite unproductive of good results, and not proportionate to
the labour expended.

Anyway, my brother, let us
again endeavour to do some [416] work together,
and to preserve, at the same time, emotional equilibrium, which will result in
a greater measure of glandular balance. It will come more easily if you live a
regular, organised life, move with greater gentleness, talk less and endeavour
to polarise yourself in your mind nature.

I would ask you to do some
meditation each day regularly with a planned lack of intensity carried almost
to the point of lack of interest. Just follow the form and look not for
results. They will follow automatically e'en if you realise them not. Study
what I say to you and meet the group requirements.

NOTE: G.S.S. has resigned
with the full approval of the Tibetan. The tension of the group activity proved
too much for her. In a later life she will resume her place.

To D. H. B.

January 1934

BROTHER OF MINE:

This is my first instruction
to you. I gave it not to you earlier than this because I was testing out your
motive and your ability to work without attention from me. It is the sign of
real discipleship when a man works alone and apparently unaided and seeks not
to intrude his small affairs into the consciousness of his Master, realising,
as he does, the pressure of work upon the Great Ones. Those of us who prepare
chelas for conscious discipleship, test and try them out in this connection. I
had not forgotten that you have worked for six months without any personal
word. Today I seek to assign your work and to establish a closer rapport
between you and myself.

You are in a position, my
brother, both from karma and the present world condition, to be able to give
considerable time to the service of your fellowmen and to the helping of
aspirants in your environment. This gives to you the opportunity of utilising
all the powers you have of mind and of sensitivity, but this necessarily brings
its own problems and difficulties. One of the first lessons every chela has to
learn is the growth of that [417] inner detachment
which will enable him to merge himself in the consciousness of his brother and
so know and ascertain the best way to help him and stimulate him to renewed
self-effort. He needs also to cultivate that true humility which will force
him to give all he has in selfless service, and then to forget that he has thus
given of himself. He must have no thought of himself as a factor in the case.
Only when detachment and humility are present can a disciple really serve.
Cultivate, therefore, these qualities and continue the giving of yourself in
service.

These are two of the keynotes
which are specially yours, and these qualities should be built into the very
fabric of your life with the strictest attention. Your third keynote is being.
Learn to stand in spiritual being, remembering ever that to be is a
greater realisation than to know or to act. The constant steady effort to dwell
in the Secret Place of your own soul and from thence to go forth into the world
of men, pouring forth love and understanding, should be your prime endeavour.

Also, my brother, work not
under strain or with effort. Bring ease and effortless expression into your
daily relations. You will understand to what I refer. The physical body is not
too strong, and if there is any sense of drive or of pressure, your work and
service will suffer. Conservation of energy and increased inner work
will produce a greater magnetic realisation but less physical plane activity.
This is for you the part of wisdom. Handle what you have to do more through
meditation; see people and talk to them as heretofore but reduce somewhat the
time given to each. Intensive spiritual radiation and loving understanding will
do more true good than long hours of talk. See as many people but give them
less time, not from a sense of hurry but in order to do better and more
intensive work.

My word for you is: Work more
in the light and see all people as in that light with you. All that any
disciple or aspirant has to do in relation to his fellowmen is to stimulate the
light that is in them, leaving them free to walk in their own light and way
upon the Path.

As regards your meditation, I
would like to suggest that you reduce the time period of your meditation work
but increase the intensity of your focus. For six months I would like to see [418] you do a rapid and intense meditation, and evidence a
one-pointed driving forward to a quick alignment and entering into the light.

As regards the rest of your
work, conform to group requirements and remember that rapid intense work is for
you the indicated method during the coming six months' period.

August 1934

BROTHER OF MINE:

My word to you today is
brief. I think you will realise that the reason lies in the fact that the
intensity of the stimulation received by you at the time of the Wesak Festival,
has so increased your sensitivity that more at this time is not required. I
write not to the members of this group for the sake of writing. As time
proceeds and they come more and more into line with group purpose, in touch
with myself, and in closer union with each other, it should be possible for
there to be fewer communications and more inner realisation of relationship.

You are getting the needed
results from your meditation, so there is no need at this time to change it.

Recollect in your work that
you are always a focal point for spiritual power and should be an outpost of
the Master's love. Serve and work. Conserve your health at all times.
Seek to link up with D.L.R. You can serve each other if you will.

March 1935

You have had a time of
difficulty, my brother. Such times are growing times and serve to train the
disciple. The deeper the capacity for usefulness and the deeper the inner
conservation, the more severe will oft be the disciplining. You received a
tremendous stimulation during the Conference and it resulted in an inner
reorganisation of your subtle bodies, locating for you also those points by
which glamour could enter. This is of value. Whilst this kind of activity is
transpiring, there is usually produced such an intense activity of the inner
bodily forces (that are the battleground of a man's own nature) that the
aspirant is temporarily submerged by these forces and by the [419] reaction produced in his own environment. Frequently
he can scarcely keep his head above the water (a neat, occult phrase, my
brother, and one most applicable to your own experience during the past six
months). Two planks of the raft on which the disciple eventually makes his
escape can be called service and patience. By a close attention to the needs of
his fellowmen and by means of that uncomplaining endurance which is the
hallmark of the disciple, he brings to an end the time of difficulty and
emerges thence freer, richer and more useful. There come times in the life of
every true aspirant when he simply continues to persevere, no matter how
disinclined he may feel and no matter how acute may be the inner turmoil.

You are emerging from the
condition of difficulty and you are facing—as a result—a life of fuller service
and of deepened understanding of others. Freedom from difficulty will never be
your lot. Would you have it otherwise? Loneliness grows as the aspirant detaches
himself from the world of souls. There comes ever an interlude wherein the
disciple senses an intense seeming isolation, but it is only an
illusion. You know that you are not alone. You know well how rich your life is
today, and how strengthened each and all of you are through contact with your
brothers.

I have not much to say to
you. You are coming closer to your Master; the greatest help that I can give
you at this time is to tell you this. You have the persistence and the will
(like tempered steel) of the second ray, and you can dismiss all fear as to
your capacity to transcend the difficulties or to make your grade. Nothing can
stop you.

Your work in the group and
your power in relation to it consists in your compassionate comprehension. You
must act in the group for that aspect of the soul which expresses itself in
understanding; that quality you can transmit. Be of good courage, my brother,
and lose yourself in service.

October 1935

MY BROTHER:

One of the main things which
I have to do for you at this time is to give you the kind of meditation which
is needed. It [420]
should be one that will break down
any tendency to crystallise which may be making its presence felt in your
mental body, and so keep you free and plastically ready for use.

You have been subjected
lately to three things:

1. A tremendous stimulation,
as a result of the Wesak Festival.

2. A good deal of immediate
environing testing.

3. An increased and
increasing field of service.

The first has greatly
expanded your mental body. The second has swept your emotional nature into a
somewhat subdued tempest. The third has had a dual effect: it has served to
show you the futility of glamour and that which you despondingly think is not glamour.
It has also fanned into activity a few hidden seeds of self-satisfaction, which
still remain in your subconscious mind. I am speaking plainly for you are a
worthwhile chela and capable of much service in the world and, for you,
individual sensitivity to correction and to suggestion, should have no place. I
realise that this is also your point of view and that hence I can speak with
frankness.

As I look at you, my brother,
and study your aura, I ask myself, what are the two things which you most need at
this time? By this I mean: What two things, dealt with at this time, would give
you the maximum measure of release and so increase your power in service?
There is, first of all, an increased reticence in thought anent your
environing conditions. This involves two subsidiary factors: firstly, freedom
from criticism of those with whom you are daily associated, and silence as to
yourself. Ponder on this, for in its practice lies for you much liberation.
Secondly, the cultivation of a spirit of happiness, of joy—which is
based on an inner assurance as to the Plan and your future work in relation to
it.

You are at a critical point
in your career as a disciple. The present, rightly handled, will open up for
you new fields of service. This, however, will only be the case if you adjust
in yourself those weaknesses of character which call for reticence and joy as
their remedying agents. There is for you at this time no immediate drastic
action or change. You are temporarily [421] marking
time, but you can steadily increase the tempo or rate of vibration and so be
ready to proffer fuller service and emerge into fuller usefulness; or you can
continue marking time—adequately and usefully—and make no further definite
progress for some while. Yet reticence (which is after all conservation of
energy) and joy (which produces right magnetism) will inevitably quickly
"speed you on your way."

You will note that I have
been lately using the phrase the "lighted Way" in many of my
communications. This is because I am seeking to evoke in all my disciples the
recognition that the light which is in each and all of you will, and can, and
ofttimes does, light your path of life.

The meditation which I would
give you has in it these two thoughts of silence and joy, for these, rightly
fostered, mean strength conserved and magnetic service. Continue the breathing
exercise as heretofore, and then proceed as follows:

1. Withdraw your outgoing
consciousness from the periphery to the point of silence within the head, to
the place where the "gold and the blue meet, blend and merge."

2. Then endeavour to feel
that utter silence. When you have entered into it and are aware of it, then

3. From that point send forth
blessing

a. To your immediate circle
of family and friends.

b. To your co-disciples.

c. To your group of students.

d. To the outer world.

e. To me, your Tibetan
Brother.

f. To the New Group of World
Servers.

g. To the Hierarchy.

4. Then visualising a vivid
golden yellow, ponder on the true significance, value and reward of silence.

6. Sound the O.M. three times
audibly, with the thought in mind as you sound it, of

a. The cleansing of the aura.

b. The silencing of all
discords.

c. The expression of joy.

[422]

I would like also to suggest
an interlinking (which you should keep in mind, and which will constitute a
service to me and to the group) of four people whose names will be sent to you.

February 1936

MY BROTHER AND FRIEND:

The past six months have been
for you months of battle—a battle with glamour, with a tired and worn body, as
well as with environment and home conditions. You have indeed had a battle with
your entire lower integrated personality. The Path of Purification, like a
silver thread, runs through the golden path of Discipleship. The cleansing of
the personality and the attaining of more light upon one's way is ever the
preparation for increased and more adequate service. It appears to me, an older
brother on the Way, that the law of non-resistance holds for you the promise of
success. Just stand with steadfastness, my brother, and let the turmoil of life
and the noise of affairs pass over you unheeded. Establish within yourself a
point of quiet and learn to retreat there and, in forgetfulness of outer
happenings, live the life of spiritual tranquillity. The words, detachment and
service, have for you much real and deep meaning, but perhaps their very
familiarity, as expressions of your spiritual objectives, militates somewhat
against their usefulness. Joy and tranquillity are the two words that I would
seek to add to the content of your thought. Joy is one that I have already
called to your attention. The other, tranquillity, I seek to see interjected
now into your life. There is little else that I need to say to you at this
time. You know; you need no telling but, like all pledged disciples, you need
interludes of stabilisation before passing on to greater knowledge.

August 1936

MY BROTHER:

Again there is little that I
need to say to you at this time. Much that is found in the personal
instructions of your group brothers must be also deeply studied by you and
applied; but the Technique of the Way, the particular need which you may [423] have for a particular re-arrangement—either of your
life or of your desires—and the specific next step is, for you, adequately
clear, is it not? A long period of learning and of recognitions directed toward
the soul and the life of the soul in its own world, has been yours. An
interlude of assimilation and of recognition directed towards the world of men
is again—for you—an equal necessity. In this way a closer integration can be
set up between the two major aspects through which you have to express yourself—the
soul life, aspiration and nature (whose major attribute is love) and the
personality life, aspiration and nature (whose major attribute is
intelligence). The unfolding of the united life of these two must now go
forward, with your predominant focus in the astral body. Does this seem strange
to you? Here in the astral body (as you well know and as all true disciples
know) is the battleground for those who are preparing for initiation. The
weapon whereby the battle will be won is that of intelligent, loving service.
Had you ever regarded service as a weapon for use? This statement is, as you
will see, a simple and clear indication of the situation. It covers the work to
be undertaken by you during the next six months and for which the difficulties
and the pain of the past year have prepared you. Think not, my brother, that I
regard service as a new thing for you or as something to which I am summoning
you. Such is not the case, for your life is oriented thereto. But the
strenuous aspiration and the active fight which you have waged over glamour and
your personality, must cease for a while, so as to give your tired nerves and
the temporarily disturbed nervous system time to recuperate.

In the last meditation
outlined by me, I gave you two exercises to do with colour, and it is this
particular work which precipitated the crisis of the past year. Such was my
intention, hard though that may seem. The meditations which I give to my
disciples are full of purpose and are planned to produce certain effects, if faithfully
carried out. I would have you think this out, and ponder upon the effect of the
imposition of tranquillity upon the astral body. May not the early stages of
such imposition work out in potent agitations which can, in their due time,
produce definite physical effects? Tranquillity is the imposition of a quality
of energy upon an agitated force, but—[424] when
these two types of force first come into touch with each other—a result,
differing from that expected oft ensues. The achieving also of a tranquil
centre in your environment comes to be recognised by your associates. This, in
the early stages again, may call forth turmoil. I give you these hints, because
when you have absorbed the implications they will lead to the higher
understanding. So little do disciples, even the most intelligent, realise the
effect, in the early stages, of the higher forces upon the lower! They realise
much more clearly the ultimate goal and ideal, but the intermediate steps
remain sealed to them.

Go on, therefore, with your
life of service and act as a wise helper to all you contact, including your
co-disciples. Your major asset at this time is a dedicated influence and
radiation. See to it that its medium of expression is love. You are
predominantly on the wisdom side of the second ray. See to it that the love
side is equally developed. That will not be a hard task for you.

I seek to change your
meditation quite radically. All disciples who are steadfast in their
orientation entered, at the Full Moon of May, 1936, into a new cycle. This you
also did. A most definite sifting and testing went on at that time, on subtler
levels—a testing which had for its objective the discovery of those who had
essentially the New Age characteristics, and could therefore be trusted to tune
in on the newer and higher rhythms. Follow, therefore, the procedure outlined
until I again tell you to make a change. Breathing exercises are necessary for
you and aid you much. Attempt, therefore, the following....

Be not deterred or
discouraged by pain and by difficulty. You are not alone. Carry the work
forward as indicated by me in the group instructions but add to it the further
work which I assign you.

March 1937

MY BROTHER:

I have studied with care the
replies sent in by this group of aspirants. I have studied yours with special
care for a reason which you know, but which may not be stated here. Your
replies indicate a glamour out of which you should at once [425] emerge—the glamour of depression, based on a sense of
spiritual inferiority which is not warranted, being not based on facts. As an
instance of this—read the list of failings which you give. My brother, even if
there is some basis of truth in your enumeration, still your replies remain
untruthful, for you omit all recollection or reference to the other side of the
picture. You are centred in your mind in the involutionary reactions of the
personality vehicles. Yet, you are, as you well know, in preparation for
certain steps forward upon the Path. A clear vision of yourself is needed, and
at each turn upon the Way you have to face three realities:

1. The little or lower self.

2. The Dweller upon the
Threshold, in cases such as yours.

3. The Angel of the Presence.

Be not so occupied with the
personality self, seek more frequently the company of the Angel, which hides
and veils (and yet reveals) the hidden glory of the spirit. Your faults are
there, as are the faults of all upon the Way. Many pass much time and thus slow
down their active spiritual expression by an undue interest and a too intent
focussing upon the liabilities and limitations. Recognise this, my brother, and
then pass on. They are not all you have to show; they do not give the
entire picture.

Five years ago you evidenced
much spiritual pride; you had a strong sense of separativeness, and a highly
developed critical mind. Today these demonstrate far less than formerly, and
you are now quick to see any emerging wrong tendencies, and equally quick to
repudiate them.

Humble love is for you the
goal this year together with the expression of a loving, understanding heart,
thus aiding all you meet. Have no other aim. The practice of this will balance
and round out your undoubted head development.

I shall not change your work
greatly. Continue to ponder upon the thoughts I earlier gave you as seed ideas
for meditation. Take them now, however, as the theme of your daily recollection
and not as seed thoughts for meditation. Follow the group meditation with care
for it will give you what you need. For you, during the coming year, the
cultivation of a poised [426] recollection and
of a reflective attitude (held with constancy) is of more importance than half
an hour of intense meditation. Bear this in mind. Reflect upon your last
instructions; they are full of thoughts which you have not yet
"inferred" or sensed. Ponder upon them and seek the higher
inferences. Clear away the glamour of depression and enter upon the new cycle
with joy.

September 1937

MY BROTHER AND MY FRIEND:

I have much to say to you
today but it must be said in a short space of time. Study, therefore, my words
with an awakened intuition and with a glad willingness to learn. You have
already received an exceedingly brief line which I do not wish to be incorporated
in any book, having for you much understanding and a recognition of your
sensitivity. There is no need for others to read it. It is in connection with
this very sensitivity of yours that I seek to speak today for I think that I
may thereby be of help and save you much future difficulty. That is, my
brother, if you accept what I say and let not any reaction to spiritual pride
negate the import of my words.

In my last Instruction to
you, I pointed out the three realities in time, space and this incarnation,
which you have to face. I warned you against the deep sense of inferiority
which sometimes handicaps your life expression. I told you to dwell more
constantly in the light which streams from the face of the Angel of the
Presence. This you have sought to do. But you forgot one thing and this has
come powerfully to light. The light which streams from the "face of the
Angel" (which is the face of the soul), reveals. How does it
reveal, my brother? It reveals by bringing to the surface the hidden
things, and the germs of weaknesses, thus revealing defects and liability. I
would here point out that when this happens, the sum total of that which is
revealed can contribute a glamour, a rising fog, a miasma of poisonous nature.
It is like the effect of a dawning sun in the early morning on a hot day which
draws upwards the mists and thus temporarily forms a fog between itself
and the earth. Such was your case. The fog is fast dissipating for, as I said,
its appearance is only temporary.

[427]

Two questions I will ask you
here, which I shall not answer for you but which, if answered by you with truth
and in the presence of the Angel, will serve to dissipate the last traces of
this glamour. I have told you that "the expression of a loving understanding
heart" was the goal that you must set yourself. Has this loving
understanding been your outstanding quality this last half year? Secondly, is
there a possibility that there has been (unrealised by you) an emergence of the
spiritual pride which you were so fast overcoming? Certain knowledges that have
come to you from me might tend to foster that pride if exceeding watchfulness
were not your major care.

One other point I would seek
to make. You have a very frail and delicate body and the force of the Angel
pouring through it will always produce in you quicker reactions than in the
average person. Recognise these evoked reactions and then pass on. Waste
not time in too close a self-analysis, or in the agonies of disappointment.
Forget not what you have been told of the goal which you may set yourself and pass
on.

Let me tell you the rays of
your threefold lower nature. It is needless for me to remind you that your soul
ray is the second and your personality ray is the sixth.

Your mental body is on
the first ray, and I think if you will study this with care, much of your
present problem will become clear to you.

Your astral body is
also governed by the first ray. This is an exception to the general rule that
the second and sixth rays govern the astral bodies of all humanity. This rule
varies occasionally in the case of disciples. This combination of a first ray
mental body and a first ray astral body is interesting and provides you with a
definitely difficult problem, for the necessity to balance and to achieve
equilibrium, is enhanced in your case. However, it also makes possible an
easier control of the astral body by the mind, if you so choose—and you do.

The ray of your physical
body is the seventh. This I presume you have already guessed. Your rays
therefore are:

1. The soul ray—the second
Ray of Love-Wisdom.

2. The personality ray—the
sixth Ray of Devotion. Idealism.

3. The mental body—the first
Ray of Will or Power.

[428]

4. The astral body—the first
Ray of Will or Power.

5. The physical body—the
seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order or Magic.

One of the interesting things
to be noted (as one studies your ray tendencies) is that all your three bodies
are on the line of 1-3-5-7, yet your personality ray is on the 6th, on the line
of 2-4-6. Why is this? The reason is that the control of your soul is, in this
incarnation, of sufficient power to evoke a reaction in all the three
vehicles of the personality, and the sixth subray of each of the governing rays
of the three bodies is so active that it becomes a dominating factor. Hence you
have a sixth ray personality.

February 1938

BROTHER OF MINE:

I have for three months been
seeking a closer contact with you and perhaps of this you are aware. The unit
of disciples with which you are affiliated has always interested me, due to the
importance of its task, and because of the personnel of the group and their
individual problems. In spite of changes and difficulties, a group of you
within this group have stood steadily from the very start despite the
difficulties interjected by the defection of certain members and the constant
state of glamour in which another brother is habitually to be found; yet, in
spite of these changes and difficulties, the group persists and moves forward
in strength. There is no need for discouragement. You, my brother, have done
your full share in the preservation of group integrity; I should like to take
this opportunity to tender to you my gratitude for your unfailing cooperation,
undertaken in the face of physical liability, home difficulties, personal
glamour and deep depression. No matter what has been eventuating in your
personal life and environment, you have stood with steadfastness and have
thereby won much for your group.

It is not often that I thus
commend a brother. More often have I chided or indicated place for improvement
and in no case have I ever over-praised. But I seek today to indicate that your
steady service has been noted and I assure you that progress has been made by
you.

[429]

One hint I would give you
also for your encouragement: Much that is regarded by you as faulty and wrong,
much that seems to you of hindrance to your group, much of the depression and
of glamour in your life has a purely physical or physiological reason and is,
therefore, upon the plane of superficiality. It leaves the real inner
man untouched and leaves your influence, consequently, free to work and move
among your brothers. Ponder on this, for it should bring you renewed assurance
of the Plan and of your part in it. Live, therefore, always above your
physical body, ignoring how you feel and seeking to dwell as far as is
possible, with your waking consciousness blended and fused with that of the
soul. Even if you feel it not, then know that it is there.

I wonder, my brother, if it
is possible for me to indicate to you the life of spiritual insulation
which is in no way the life of personal isolation? In this state of
"insulated being" lies, for you, the solution of many of your
problems. This insulation is brought about by emotional indifference to your
environment and to people, but it is a spiritual indifference, founded on
spiritual detachment and dispassion. When it is present, there comes the
fulfilment of obligation and the performance of duty, but no identification
with people or circumstance. The soul stands free, unattached, unafraid, and is
not controlled by that which exists in the three worlds. This is the true
spiritual indifference and—for your own release and for greater usefulness in
service—I would have you meditate on indifference, during the coming six
months as the method to be followed, in order to produce spiritual insulation.
I give you no other theme for meditation and no set form. I would suggest that
each morning, when you awaken, that you give five minutes to an intensive
consideration of spiritual insulation, after a brief alignment and dedication,
and that throughout the day you brood and reflect upon this theme. Then at
night, or earlier in the evening if more suitable, use divine indifference as a
theme for review.

Will you sometime summarise
what you have learnt on "Spiritual insulation through indifference,"
writing a paper upon the subject for the helping of others? This constitutes my
only assignment of work to you.

[430]

Your first ray mental body
should definitely aid you in this work, provided you ever bear in mind that
insulation does not mean isolation and that indifference does not connote an
attitude of cold detached separativeness. Your first ray mental body forms a
good cooperating point for your second ray soul and this too would I have you
bear in mind. It gives you the strength of will to persist, and it
should also give you the strength of will to understand, not only the
laws of life, but people and their need of love.

1. Your soul expresses its
energy through your mental body.

2. Your personality force is
focussed in your astral body.

This year, my brother, should
see much growth, for you have learnt and mastered much already.

REVIEW ON INDIFFERENCE

1. What constitutes a review
on divine Indifference?

a. Am I confusing it with
dispassion, or with a refusal to suffer?

b. Does it signify in my mind
separation and consequent pain?

2. Am I capable of seeing
myself with indifference, detached emotionally from any event?

a. Can I see mentally,
unbiased by any reaction from the emotional personal self?

b. Do I ever do this?

3. If I use this review on
indifference as it should be used, what will be the effect in my life?

a. How would this affect the
group in which I seek to work?

b. Would this effect be
desirable, and do I desire it?

4. Is this review a
scientific method of achieving indifference?

a. Have I ever worked in such
a scientific way to achieve this quality of discipleship?

b. Do I feel it a desirable
thing to try out now?

c. Can I be indifferent in a
divine way whilst using it?

5. What are the reasons for
any belief that divine indifference is the way for me to tread today?

a. What basis for this do I
find in my reading and my studies?

[431]

b. Does my soul lie behind
this urge or pressure towards indifference which is brought to bear upon me?

7. If it is true that the
blind must advance by touching, by keeping attached, and by keeping
hold; but that those with sight, by seeing and by keeping free and
unattached; why then, having sight, do I close my eyes and hold on and feel my
way instead of seeing it?

8. Is the mind the organ of
vision for the spiritual man? If so,

a. Is my mind an organ of
vision?

b. Can I hold my mind
"steady in the light" and see life truly and free from any blinding
attachments?

9. As I review this day, what
part has divine indifference played in it?

a. Have I spoken from the
angle of a divinely indifferent viewpoint?

b. Have I practised an
indifferent attitude to myself when circumstances arose which threatened my
emotional poise?

10. We are told that
self-realisation is our immediate goal; in view of this, what do I know about:

a. The indifference of the
soul or self to the fragmentary self?

b. The illusion of
identification of that self with the little self?

11. Again we are told that
there is an archetype, a pattern, a way, a goal, a light upon the Path.

a. Which of these words
expresses my personal objective and why?

b. How far is the archetypal
pattern reflected in my life?

c. What attachments prevent
its full expression?

12. I am the redeemer of my
lower nature. Therefore:

a. How much part does divine
indifference play in this redemption process?

[432]

b. In which of my three
aspects—physical, emotional or mental—is it felt the most?

c. Does redeeming force play
through me to others?

13. My nature in truth is
love.

a. How can this truly
manifest and yet with indifference?

b. Through which body do I
most easily express this love ?

c. To what am I the most
attached and how can I deal with it?

14. What attitude and
qualities will have to be developed in me if I am rightly to practise
indifference?

15. What is the objective of
such a practice? Can I express it formally to myself?

a. In terms of my three
bodies or aspects?

b. In terms of discipleship?

Take each of these questions
for two days at a time and give them concentrated thought each month for a
year.

February 1939

BROTHER OF MINE:

I would like, first of all,
to point out that this newly opened door for service has been earned by you, by
your strenuous effort to meet the requirements of your soul and to subordinate
your personality to these demands. You have made much progress along this line
and will find release and the reward of opportunities to serve in this new
development which has come your way. Shoulder it lightly, my brother,
remembering that it is your task to set things in motion and to aid others by
your poise and your wisdom so that they can carry on. Let not the glamour of
time, of sensed need and of feverish activity descend upon you. Your task is to
fill the hours of other people with indicated service, which is suggested and
outlined by you; it is to meet the needs, one by one, as they arise but not to
meet all the need at once. You must build for the immediate future and should
engineer those controlled activities which will demonstrate success because
they work through from the mental plane, via the world of evoked desire, and so
into physical plane manifestation. This process you must demonstrate.
Therefore, work through others; this is the way the Hierarchy works, [433] watching and suggesting and developing the innate
faculty of prevision—a thing which you can easily do. This faculty is being
developed in the race of men through the foresight required in meeting business
needs. Train others to do the detailed work and work yourself behind the
scenes—as we work.

You have made such a close
study and analysis of your rays that there is no need for me to elaborate the
theme. You have studied them in the light of your soul and have grasped the
peculiar danger inherent in your two first ray personality vehicles. They are a
real source of difficulty if not mellowed and motivated by a loving spirit and
qualified by that divine indifference, the acquiring of which has been your
major lesson this life.

Be of good cheer, brother of
mine. You are needed by us.

NOTE: This disciple has
never wavered from his determination to work in the Tibetan's group and is
there actively engaged.

To P. D. W.

January 1936

MY BROTHER:

With patience you have
handled life. Your moments of deep depression (mounting at times in the past
almost to crises of despair), are well nigh over. You are becoming more and
more immersed in the service of your fellowmen, and are drawing closer to the goal
which has been set you.

One of the problems which all
sincere disciples have to solve is to learn to live as if the physical body did
not exist. By that I mean that its limitations and the hindrances which it
imposes upon the expression of the free, spiritual consciousness are negated by
an inner attitude of mind. It is the cultivation of a detached attitude to life
and to circumstances which has constituted your major lesson in this particular
incarnation. You are learning it. With a sense of inner freedom, you must learn
to function as a Messenger, despite all handicaps and the demands of a physical
vehicle, too frail really to handle the force [434] which
must flow through. Some people, my brother, are so constituted that they become
servers and centres of light publicly before their fellowmen. Their influence
and their power are great. Others work (with equal power) from a quiet
centre of relative retirement, and they wield, if I may again repeat myself, an
equal force. For them comes the practice of that spiritual discrimination which
does not separate, and yet which wisely chooses where the available strength, effort
and light must be placed. Put your strength and light behind that of the
workers who serve the Hierarchy upon the open battlefield of life. That is my
word for you this day. Let the workers and those who wield influence find in
you an understanding comrade, and, withal, one who knows. In the heat
and pressure of the fight and the fatigue incident to the strain of active
service for the Hierarchy, let them feel that in you they have someone to whom
they can turn—detached and consecrated. Let them find in you someone whose eyes
see clearly because they are not dimmed by the fog and smoke of the outer world
battle. Such is your service, and for it I ask on behalf of those who (as time
elapses) I shall send to you. Watch for them; recognise them and help them.
This I can trust you to do.

I have given some thought to
exercises which may aid you and some measured consideration to your meditation
work. I have kept you waiting for your personal instructions, because you were
capable of carrying on the process of integration alone and unaided, and it is
always better so. I have decided to give you no breathing exercises for the
space of six months, but I will ask you to do two things: First, lay the
emphasis of your attention upon the full moon work. Prepare for the work to be
done at that time throughout the entire month, working with deliberation and
scientifically each day with the thought in your mind of those five climaxing
days of esoteric work each month. Build towards the full moon moment, when, in
company with your fellow disciples, you make your "approach" and can
be the recipient of certain forces which you must learn to wield. Will you
shoulder responsibility in connection with a certain piece of work? You will
know to what I refer. Secondly: Follow each day the meditation outlined below,
keeping careful record of all that may transpire. At the end of six months,
prepare [435] a digest of your spiritual diary and an analysis of
progress and of events. This need not be seen by anyone unless you so desire.
But keep the diary and analyse results.

The meditation work and
thoughts suggested are to preface the group meditation which I would be glad to
have you do, along with your group brothers. After due composure and a clearing
of the mind in any manner which may be to you familiar and adequate then
proceed as indicated....

The following seed thoughts
can be used by you in your meditation, if you so desire:

1st month—Joy—Like a bird on
the wing, I fly towards the sun. I sing in my soul so that all I meet can hear.

2nd month—Strength—Like an ox
that is yoked to its fellow, I carry the load of life. Yet I am not alone. With
my brothers and Master, I share the load.

3rd month—Impulse—Like a
child that calls forth the love of those around, I too evoke the love of my
brothers. That love I render back, unthinking and unattached.

4th month—Power—Like a
cistern that gathers and stores that which is needed by man, the water of life
that nourishes, I, too, store that which is needed by others. I store not for
myself. Power is needed for their work; therefore I gather and store, seeking
the source of supply.

5th month—Beauty—Colour is
mine. I claim it for my own, for colour and quality are one. Yet I share with
my fellows.

6th month—Understanding—Sorrow
is mine, but it is the fruitful seed of wisdom. Like a sage, I endure and
garner the fruit of wisdom for others.

I add no more to the above
outline of meditation. Incorporate the group meditation and any work that you
yourself choose to do. Only one thing I ask: At each meditation, pour out love
and wisdom on your group brothers, making your link with your soul, with me,
and with the group, and regard yourself only as a channel through which help
may come. My blessing rests upon you.

[436]

Your rays are as follows:

The egoic ray—ray 2, the Ray
of Love-Wisdom.

The personality ray—ray 6,
the Ray of Devotion, of Idealism.

In your last life your
personality ray was the first, which fact may explain much to you anent your
reactions in this life.

November 1936

BROTHER OF MINE:

I am giving you only a short
instruction this time. We are often in touch and you are occupied now with
fresh adjustments to life. These adjustments are necessary and right, and I do
not seek to interfere or to complicate your mind in any way. The past three
years have brought to you many changes—some of them in circumstance,
environment and in the field of human contacts, but most of them of an interior
nature and in the realm of consciousness.

You are entering into a
period of intensive work. Two things, however, I would say to you, my brother
and my friend, at this time:

1. Guard with care the
physical body. You are one of those people who must learn to work through the
medium of a frail and delicate physical body and you could greatly hinder its
usefulness if you forced it to do too much active external work. It is not
capable of much outer physical contact or of rapid and frequent change and of
hard work. Guard it well and cherish it with care.

2. Remember that it is not where
you are but what you are that matters and which is of importance.
From the quiet spot where you have lived and where you can rightly care for the
physical body (your instrument of service on the outer plane of life), there
can emanate such spiritual force and living wisdom that you can serve a
multitude. You can serve them from there without the rough outer contacts that
more physically robust workers can endure. Serve from the centre within
yourself by pen and thought and interview, but go not out into contact with the
world.

[437]

If you can do these two
things, there is much that you can accomplish for us and much service that you
can render to the Hierarchy which you love and serve, and you can do it over
your full period of time. But if you forget these two suggestions, it will not
be easy for you to carry on and you will not be able to fulfil your intended
task for us with the desired perfection. Your work is along the lines of radiation
and interpretation.